Pharmacy Technician
Your pharmacist is the most important person of your health care team post surgery. Why? Because even though the doctor can diagnose you, the surgeon can slice you and the nurse can nurture you, but the thing that is really going to take away the pain post surgery is tiny and be taken every 4 hours with water: your pain meds. Not a smile for Nurse Jennifer as she props up your pillow, not the precise cut of the fifteen blade, it’s the pills people. The perfect stepping-stone position on your way to becoming a pharmacist is a pharmacist technician. As a pharmacist technician you act as the right hand of the pharmacist. A career in the pharmacy field gets a jumpstart working as a pharmacist technician. It requires minimal training and is the perfect way to get your foot in the door in the field.
What does a Pharmacist Technician Do?
- Receive and verify prescriptions both manually and electronically.
- Retrieve, count, poor, weigh, measure and mix the medication.
- Establish and maintain patient records, prepare insurance forms.
- Stock and take inventory of medications within pharmacy.
Perks: Pharmacy Technician
Technicians work the same hours that Pharmacists work. Many times those hours are regular business hours with weekends off.
There is plenty of room for advancement to supervisor, specialty positions or sales.
Many employers pay for technicians to obtain training and education as well as paying for them to take the accreditation test.
Preparation: Pharmacy Technician
Formal pharmacy technician education programs require classroom and laboratory work in a variety of areas, including medical and pharmaceutical terminology, pharmaceutical calculations, pharmacy recordkeeping, pharmaceutical techniques, and pharmacy law and ethics. Technicians also are required to learn medication names, actions, uses, and doses. Many training programs include internships, in which students gain hands-on experience in actual pharmacies. After completion, students receive a diploma, a certificate, or an associate’s degree, depending on the program. (Source BLS). Accreditation is also a big plus. Technicians can become certified by Pharmacy Technician Certification Board and the Institute for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians.
Personality Profile: Pharmacy Technician
Customer service skills are a must because you will be working all types of different people including patients, pharmacists, doctors, nurses and sales reps. Math skill and attention to detail are crucial. A miscounted number or an incorrect dosage can kill someone. Straight up kill someone!
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By the Numbers: Pharmacy Technician
- Pharmacy technicians held about 285,000 jobs in 2006.
- About 71 percent of jobs were in retail pharmacies, either independently owned or part of a drugstore chain, grocery store, department store, or mass retailer.
- About 18 percent of jobs were in hospitals and a small proportion was in mail-order and Internet pharmacies, offices of physicians, pharmaceutical wholesalers, and the Federal Government.
- Employment of pharmacy technicians is expected to increase by 32 percent from 2006 to 2016, which is much faster than the average.
Show Me the Money: Pharmacy Technician Salary
Median hourly earnings of wage-and-salary pharmacy technicians in May 2006 were $12.32. The middle 50 percent earned between $10.10 and $14.92. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $8.56, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $17.65.
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